Assessors in Criminal Trials in Ghana: A Study from Without

The use of assessors in criminal trials in the Commonwealth of Nations originated in India and the first judicial attempt to examine its history and origin appears to have been made by Bhashyam Ayyanyar, J., in 1901 in the case of King Emperor v. Tribunal Reddi reported in I.L.R. 24 Madras 523, at page 543. The learned judge pointed out in that case that “the earliest legislation which authorized European functionaries presiding in Courts of Sessions to constitute two or more respectable natives to assist them as assessors … [was] Regulation VI of 1832 which was applicable only to Bengal”.